Kuwaiti cartoonist battles IS death threats, US bigots
Naif al-Mutawa, creator of comic book series "THE 99," spoke with Al-Monitor about the recent death threat by the Islamic State and how US President Barack Obama's enemies became his.
Zealots the world over seem to have it out for "THE 99" creator Naif al-Mutawa.
Seven years after the Kuwaiti psychologist and entrepreneur first launched his comic book series based on the 99 attributes of Allah, he's facing a sudden onslaught of death threats, fatwas and lawsuits. His US distributor, meanwhile, continues to sit on a TV deal, in part because of pressure from conservative bloggers who object to any positive description of Islam.
Mutawa remains unfazed — and defiant.
He says his cartooning days are behind him and he's focused on treating patients at his private clinic and teaching at Kuwait University's faculty of medicine. Yet, he's drawn back again and again into the fray over Islam and what it represents, a bespectacled superhero of sorts against intolerance.
